Supergirl: Identity

[ChasNicollette]

Wonder Woman: "A Sorta Fairy Tale"

Until recently, Themyscira had been a world outside the world. If one had had to provide an address, of sorts, a physical location, Diana might have supplied the phrase "The Bermuda Triangle," rather than the more expected "Mediterranean Sea."

But it could have been accessed from all points on the globe; it touched everywhere. One could not have precisely stepped from Metropolis and into Paradise, as such. But it had been there, for those who had known how to look for it.

These days, however, following great tragedies-- invasions by dark gods, for one thing, the terror known as Darkseid --Themyscira was a more physical place, bound to co-ordinates on the globe as might be more mundane islands like Tasmania or Madagascar.

Themyscira was a few miles off the coast of North Carolina, and while The United States Government had worriedly protested that such proximity to The States posed a threat to their vaunted national security-- much like Cuba or The Corto Maltese had done in their day --The Amazons and The Americans had settled into something of a truce.

After all, if they needed to talk to an Ambassador for the island, The Oval Office knew where to find her.

Miles whistled by in moments. The Speed of Hermes was no precise gauge, of course, the powers of gods were rarely quantifiable, and she had no set upper limit to her speed. Sometimes, rarely, this meant she could leave even Superman in the dust, and claim speeds approaching those of The Fastest Man Alive. More often, though, her speeds were lower than this, and it was quite an effort for her to fly faster than a speeding bullet.

Mach 3, three times the speed of sound, this had proven to be a decent average.

Now, though, lest The Girl prove impatient, Diana flew at Mach 5. At such a rapid clip, the distance seemed to fall away, and before very long at all Diana was gesturing to The Girl to slow, slow, slow.

Even in the dark of night, Themyscira was beautiful. Torches could be seen flickering in sconces placed throughout the terraced, mountainous terrain, and larger fireplaces sat at the base of the mountain, in amongst the pillared buildings and numerous temples, providing light that reached higher and burned brighter.

Seeing fire alight in Themyscira's night inflicted feelings of a terrible mixture upon Diana. It reminded her, despite herself, of seeing the place laid nearly to waste, by internal strife and by external war. But these were welcoming fires, homecoming fires, fires stoked to illuminate festivity and song and a thriving, three-thousand-year-old culture.

"Here," Diana explained to The Girl, though she knew the specifics of her speech would be lost to their mutual linguistic shortcomings, "all being well, is where Kal-El of Krypton shall meet us."

With a pointing finger, she indicated a hillside near a great hall, a meeting-place that would dwarf even The Parthenon of Athens, and again gestured gently, suggesting that The Girl should decelerate as she descended.

Diana alighted, graceful, as flying came as naturally to her as walking and the transitions between were as easy as rain's falling through mist.

Phillipus, a tall and strong and beautiful woman of African extraction, once captain of Hippolyte's guard and now appointed ruler of Themyscira in Hippolyte's stead, hurried from the darkness, looking ever-so-surprised. With her hurried her aide, Ariadne, and the current captain of the guard, leader of The Amazons of Bana-Mighdall, Artemis.

"Diana?" Phillipus wondered, understandably bewildered. "Not that it is not good to have you here, under any circumstances--"

"--but who, pray tell," Artemis supplied, eyes narrowed, her curtain of red hair billowing in the wind, gesturing to the blonde-haired Girl with a bared sword, "is this?"

"I believe she's a friend," Diana suggested. "Or at least, the friend of a friend. I hope to find out shortly: in the meantime?"

Diana turned, and smiled softly to The Girl, and then glanced back at the Northern sky, wondering if Kal was on his way.

"In the meantime, we are to make her welcome."

Artemis arched an eyebrow, but put her sword away without another word.

 

[Lunaramblings]

"Very well. Keep me posted. Inform your Birds that Matches Malone is going to be back in town. He is working under my protection. They are to leave him to me. Understood? As for your research start with the picture of Man-Bat in the Observer. That isnt Man-Bat, but I believe it may be this new guy."

As Diana and the Girl left Batman did as well. He headed back toward the Cave. Batman arrived at The Cave, and started to formulate his next moves. This would have been easier with Dick. But no time for that now. Batman suspected that this new thing in his city was not a criminal. It had a great opportunity tonight to cause trouble, and he was pretty sure he had caught a glimpse of Diana on the rooftop talking to it. If Diana trusted this thing, then it serves to reason that it gave her reason.

Batman removed his armor. Becoming Bruce Wayne once more. Bruce toggled switches, pressed button and waited. In seconds the supercomputer before him had printed out several reports. Reports of several criminals apprehended, claiming that a Dark Man, sometimes with wings, had attacked them, glued them to a wall and left them. If this guy wanted to play, Bruce knew just the game.

In a short while Matches Malone was standing in the Batcave.

"Well, times ta roll on dis here thing." Malone walked to the garage bay and go into an old Charger.

In a short while he was standing outside an old Wayne Enterprises warehouse. He had checked it thoroughly. Nobody was there. The building was empty. In moments it was in flames. Flames designed to serve as a beacon more than a destroyer. Matches Malone was the best Arsonist in Gotham. Matches Malone sat, waiting on the hood of his Charger, match stick firmly set in his teeth, wearing sunglasses.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Wonder Girl and Valkyrie M

They watched, the two of them together, as Wonder Woman led The Girl up, up, and away.

"'Once again,'" Cassie cracked, "'the day is saved. Thanks to?'"

She glanced at Rose, as if this were Rose's cue.

Rose blinked at her.

"'Thanks to?'" Cassie tried again, smiling a little bit desperately.

Rose arched an eyebrow. "Us?"

Cassie sighed. "(Never mind.)"

"Lack of sleep's made yeh daft, Wonder," Rose opined with a slightly bewildered chuckle.

"Yeah?" Cassie retorted. "What's your excuse?"

"I don't sleep much," Rose grunted, taking a drag on her cigarette and then gesturing with it, casting an arc of smoke. "I've a superhuman stamina, The Boss has me on a funny schedule, and when I do nod off me dreams aren't what you'd call happy ones. Wars and such."

"Oh," Cassie blinked.

"As for being daft," Rose smirked, taking on a far less serious demeanour, "I suppose that just comes natural."

Cassie couldn't help but grin at that. "You should talk with Bart sometime. Poster child for 'Daft.'"

"Mm," Rose chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind. So what next?"

"Well," Cassie mused, "I think I'm gonna follow Diana to The Island. Just in case. Seems like The Girl's Kryptonian, but if she turns out to be kind of a bitch, my magic lightning should keep her in line."

"I'll call yeh mum," Rose nodded easily, "let her know you're in good hands, and you've got a place to crash."

"You going back to The Embassy, then?" Cassie wondered, as she lifted off.

"Eventually," Rose allowed.

"All righty then," Cassie grinned. "Stay safe!"

...and in a blur of gods-given velocity, she was gone, flying South.

Rose stood by herself for a moment, her fag's smoke curling upwards.

Then she flew back to that rooftop overlooking the harbour and sat there for awhile.

She daydreamed, because that was safer than the real kind.

 

[LuckyVic]

J'onn filled Clark in on everything that had happened. How Diana and Bruce believes that the young girl was Kryptonian, especailly since she reacted to Kryptonite much the same way he did. Clark took all this instride, after all it wasn't the first time he ran into another Kryptonian. Of course they were usually from another universe or time period. He wondered which one was this. He took off towards the coordinates that Diana had told J'onn to meet her at. He could have been their relatively quick, but he took his time. He couldn't believe it but he was actually nervous. Could this new visitor actuallly be another survivor of his Krypton, did that mean that maybe there were more Kryptonians out there. All these thoughts and more went through his mind as he felt the winds whip past him.

 

[Wyldfire]

Oracle and Huntress.

"I'm on it, and thanks for the information on Malone. We'll stay away from him." Oracle said as she cut the connection. Time to get to work. She started her custom made search engines and began her quest. She would transfer all the telemetry reports to the League. This was too big of an issue for her team, it was time to leave it to the big guns.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Helena took aim with the big crossbow. She was thankful that Oracle had attained some of the tech Green Arrow and Arsenal used. The first bolt took out the truck that had the cargo in it. The fireball lit up the night as the bolt exploded on contact with the gas tank.

She slid the next bolt into place as the crossbow auto-cocked itself. The screamer sailed through the chaos of the explosion, further disorienting the thugs. With that she dropped the big bow and drew her pistol bow, and threw herself into the chaos. Kicking the first thug in the face as she pinned the next to the warehouse wall. His scream was nothing compared to the sound of the screamer. Huntress was glad she'd remembered to put the ear plugs in before she had started in on this.

It was over faster than she'd wanted it to be. She was still in a bitchy mood after seeing the Bat letting others into Gotham. She still felt the need to hurt someone. But she managed to keep her word to Oracle. Nothing too excessive. She even managed to control the urge to kick one of the idiots that lay beaten and bloody on the ground. Now to search the bodies to find the information on where the load was to be delivered. If that failed she'd have to slap one of them awake to "have a little chat" with.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Wonder Girl

Cassie sped South as fast as her Speed of Hermes would carry her, which, while not Mach 5, was still an appreciable multiple of the speed of sound.

She squinted her eyes against the slipstream and the lashing of the wind, reflecting, momentarily, that Rose McCrimmon had the right idea with those goggles of hers. Cassie'd had goggles on a couple of her previous uniforms, and she wondered now why she'd gotten rid of them.

As she flew hard to North Carolina, a red and blue blur flashed past her on her left, another flying person, but she passed them like they were standing still.

Wait, she wondered, was that...?

She pulled on the brakes, pulled them on hard, and floored it as soon as the red and blue came even with her.

Superman.

He was beautiful. (So much more beautiful than Jim Morrison.) But he had this look on his face...

She wanted to say "hello" to him, wanted to ask him how she'd ever managed to fly faster than him, wanted to ask him what was the matter, but then she considered the notion of the speed of sound. If she tried to talk to him, her voice would be long long lost.

Only Flashes could talk to each other while going hypersonic.

...but then again? Didn't Superman have crazy superhearing that sometimes bent physics? Hearing car alarms from The Moon or something?

And Cassie had superhearing now, too, apparently.

So maybe they could converse after all?

"Are you okay, uh, sir?" she attempted. "I haven't seen you look this bewildered since Arrowette read you the riot act that one time in The Justice Cave."

 

[LuckyVic]

Superman

Clark had been lost in thought just flying when he heard the voice and then realized the question he had been asked. He went into a hover and just stood in the air. "Oh hello there Wonder Girl, I'm sorry I was just lost in thought." he repiled to her. Then a smile formed on his face as he recalled the incident she had mentioned.

"Isn't it rather late for you to be up and around?" he asked her. He remembered Diana mentioning once that Wonder Girl had a mother. He was sure if she knew her daughter was out this late she would be worried about her. That was something his parent never had to worry about while he was growing up.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Wonder Girl

"Always with the harping," Cassie blushed fiercely, blushed nearly as red as her outfit.

She shook her head. "I was awake anyway. Was talking with-- um. Was just trying to lend a lasso. (I got rid of your big radioactive retromutagenic asteroid for you. Well. I helped. That should count for something, right?)"

Wonder Girl examined Superman for a moment. It almost seemed like he'd changed the subject away from his preoccupation intentionally. Like he was afraid to deal with the topic at hand.

But that was stupid. Superman wasn't afraid of anything. Everyone knew that.

"Valkyrie M said she'd call home for me," Cassie mumbled. "So Mom doesn't have to worry. So I'm good; I can maybe help you with the new girl."

 

[LuckyVic]

He smiled nervously and wondered if it showed. He was usually more confident, but when it came to personal matters like this, he found himself closing up and less sure of himself. "What can you tell me about her?" He asked.

"J'onn only told me a little bit. So anything you can tell me about your observations will help in telling me what I'm dealing with here." he was going into reporter mood, trying to get as much information as possible about the new arrival. If she seemed hostile, then he may have to fight. If she was frieghtened or confused he'd have to handle things gently. But if she was taking things instride that could mean she came here on purpose.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara Zor-El was able to keep up with Wonder Woman, though she hadn't quite mastered the art of flying just yet. To reach her true potential, Kara would need to spend more time soaking up the sun's glorious rays. To reach her fastest speed she would need more time.

But for now she was content to fly as fast as she could, trailing behind Diana by only a little bit. Kara was amazed at how fast she was, especially considering that she wasn't Kryptonian. She began wondering if all humans possessed such powerful gifts, despite the fact that her father and Jor-El were confident they did not.

Normal humans weren't meant to fly with the clouds between their knees.

Upon reaching Themyscira, Kara immediately took in its beautiful sight. She had seen nothing like it before. The magnificent landscape... the flickering lights that gave it a mystical glow... never before had she seen something so amazing.

Krypton, save for when that world was still young and fresh, paled in comparison.

Diana directed Kara towards the island, slowing down in their flight as they approached it. Holding onto her dusty brown coat, Kara descended from the air, her feet touching down upon solid ground. Though still in awe, Kara was not so detached so as to notice the arrival of the 'welcoming' party. Kara noticed the sword that was brandished, and she scoffed at the idea of a crude weapon being brought to bear against her.

"Is Kal-El here?" Kara asked, directing her question to Diana, forgetting once again that she was talking in Kryptonian. She noticed the raised eyebrows by the Amazonians, and Kara sighed in defeat.

It all seemed pointless.

Like she was trying to get a deaf man to listen to her cries for help.

In trying to make Kara as comfortable as possible, it was decided that she would need to be provided with some fresh clothes. The brown coat she had on didn't exactly fit her, and she looked rather like a child wearing an adults t-shirt, the sleeves being far too long and the bottom touching the ground.

It was better than being naked, though.

Runners had been sent away, and within moments Kara was presented with new clothes to wear. A red metallic headband had been given for her to wear on her forehead, and it kept most of her golden hair from falling down over her face. She put on the golden boots, a red skirt with gold plating and a matching top that covered her upper chest, but left her stomach exposed.

It actually looked pretty fashionable, though it wasn't exactly her style.

Still she figured she could get used to it.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Wonder Girl

"We weren't sure what her deal was at first," Cassie mumbled, gathering her thoughts, thinking hard. "She doesn't seem to speak English? She was kind of panicky, but it was a sort of measured panic. (If that makes any sense.)"

Wonder Girl did a little barrel roll, drew a little closer to Superman.

"Batman took her down a peg with some Kryptonite," Cassie explained. "But she could have been faking that, maybe? (She didn't look like she was faking.) I was busy taking care of that big rock, so I didn't see all of it go down. (Atmospheric re-entry is wild crap, but I guess you do that like every day.) Apparently she took out a big truck and there was a big pileup. It's probably harder to fake superhuman strength and invulnerability than it is to fake being weakened by Kryptonite... Oh. Um! And she flew. She flew with Diana, Diana didn't have to carry her. (Which is how come we're meeting them here. You can fake flying, I've seen Criss Angel do that on TV, but this was like... real flying. Like this kind of flying, the kind we're doing right now.)"

She blinked downward, as she saw Themyscira crawl into view below them, tiny in the distance but growing larger. Almost there.

"She's very beautiful," she murmured. "She's beautiful like the girls at school I used to be jealous of before I started dating The Boyfriend of Steel. She's more beautiful than that. She might even be, um, Kryptonian beautiful."

Cassie hesitated as she slowed in the sky, trusting Superman's super-hearing to keep him in tune with her voice. "(I haven't gotten Batman into trouble with the whole Kryptonite thing, have I? Because the last thing I wanna do is get you mad at Batman and Batman mad at me.)"

 

[LuckyVic]

Superman

Superman wondered if there could have been another way for Bruce to deal with her, other then to use Kryptonite. However this wouldn't be the first or last time that they disagreed on how to handle a given situation. "I know about the kryptonite, but don't worry about it. I doubt Batman will be angry with you over my disappointment of how he handled that." Superman told her with a smile.

Clark's mind waundered back to her comment that the girl was beautiful. No she said Kryptonian beautiful, whatever that meant. The only one he could possibly compare her to was his mother. And although he had to admit she was beautiful, he really didn't have much of a reference as to what Kryptonian beautiful could be.

He looked down and saw the island of Themyscira below him. "Well I believe I've kept our guest waiting long enough." He said and then sped down to the island to where Diana had told him to meet her. His demeanor had changed, he had made the decision and it was reflected in his stance. He was in full Superman mood now.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I finished my coffee and my papers at about the same time. Leaving a five on the table, along with the papers I left and walked down the street, as had been my habit for the last week. Gotham before sunrise was different, and the same as it was over fifty years ago. The papers were delivered, early morning deliveries were being prepared.

Something was burning in the old warehouse district.

WhattheHell?????

I ducked into a alley, changed and shadowstepped to the roof of the building next to me. Yep, there was a warehouse on fire about half a mile away.

Extending my wings I took to the air, landing on the roof of the building. I shifted to shadowform, and drifted down, looking for anyone inside. The heat could not touch me in this form, so I quickly cleared the building, which was getting more engulfed in flames. I made my way out through the unburned portion, emerging in the back of the building.

Arson was a common enough practice in my time, but usually it had some reason behind it. For some reason this didn't feel right.

I turned the corner to see a man sitting on the hood of his car, watching the fire. His back was to me, and I doubt he noticed me, as I tended to blend in with the night.

Well well, it seems I may get some answers.

I stepped back and shifted back to my shadowform. moving through shadows, I crept until I was behind the figure, then I shifted back to normal.

"You know, you guys always forget to bring marshmallows to these fires."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Mahshmellow's? Who youse spose be?"

Matchstick Malone didn't turn immediately. Although he was aware of where the man was, due to the HUD on the inside of his sunglasses. Instead he rose slowly.

Deliberately.

He stuck a hand in his pockets.

"You workin' for The Penguin, Big Bird?"

Matchstick Malone was watching the man before him. He could sense this was a danger. In his pocket Matchstick pressed a button. His sunglasses stared to record the scene before him. Instantly the images were being sent to two places. First, the Cave. Second to Oracle. As soon as the first triggered a message went out to Oracle.

Who is he? Where is he from? Give me all you can get. DO NOT contact Dick."

"You 'ere to scrap, or you here for the pretty lights Birdman?" Matches was gifted at immersing himself in to the world of criminals. But there was one thing he knew. The only way to tell where someone is really from is to fight them. A hitman from Sicily may lose his accent. But he still fights like a Sicilian.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

"You 'ere to scrap, or you here for the pretty lights Birdman?"

Birdman???

"You really don't want to fight me buddy. Actually, you want to stay right where you are."

I threw my hand forward, fist closed as my webbing exploded out the top of my hand speeding toward the thug on the hood of the car.

Once I had his stuck I could call the fire department and have some personal time with him until they got here.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Matches springs back over the hood of his car. Avoiding the web-like goo.

That was different.

Matches vaults over the car. Thumbing a control in his pocket as he does.

Matches lands, and immediately takes off at the man before him. Closing impossibly fast. As he gets within striking distance he throughs a hard knee toward the dark figures chest.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

Damn this guy is fast!!

I doubt a Olympic gymnast could have moved like this guy did, and now he was coming at me.

Unfortunately for him, five hundred years of hand to hand combat (guns had never caught on in Shadow, or in the blasted wastes of Hell!) had given me plenty of tricks.

His knee was inches from me when I phased into shadowform. I knew that passing through me tended to chill a human, almost as if someone had stepped on their grave. It would unbalance him a second.

I turned with him, and as he exited my insubstantial form, I returned to solid form, facing his back.

Well, that was the plan. He had rolled with the landing and was crouched down, still ready to fight.

"Listen buddy, you REALLY don't want to do this. Now just tell me who paid you to torch the place and be a good boy. Confession is good for the soul you know."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Incorpreality? Great.

Matches takes out a small device. Not much bigger than a large ring. Slipping it onto his hand he makes his move. As he clenches his fist a spark of electricity erupts. This particular toy was one that had been adapted from a piece used by The Joker years ago. Three times the kick of a police taser. Nothing to scoff at.

Matches sprang from his crouched postion, fists and forearms raining toward the dark figure. Fighting in a style that was a mix of American Streetfighting and Boxing.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I saw him reach into a pocket, then saw a arc of light from his hand.

OK, he pulled a weapon. Guess he did want to play.

He came at me, foot leading, fist ready to hit me. A normal human would have had no chance.

I had not been human in centuries.

My hand moved down faster than most eyes could see and grasped his ankle. Turning with the momentum, I let his force flow through me. Dodging the hand with the weapon, I released him at the wall behind me. While he was in the air I leaped up about twenty feet, firing another blast of webbing at him.

Hopefully this time he would stay down.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Matches hit the wall. He planted both feet and used the momentum of the throw to recoil. Matches would end his landing just feet away from the blazing building. Barely missing being webbed to the wall.

If he wanted to he could have killed me. Enough for tonight.

As Matches hit the ground he tumbled and pulled another small device from his pocket. Hitting the button on the top of the device. There was an eruption of flames, bright blinding flame. The building Matches had lit only a moment ago was gone. Simulateously, Matches was gone. As if swallowed by the jarring blast.



Matches Malone stood in the Cave. The piece of equipment he had been given by Mister Miracle years ago at his feat. The teleportation harness worked.

"Matches have a fun night?" The voice came from the computer terminal in the center of the Cave. A man was standing before a pod from another world.

"What are you doing here?" The voice of Bruce Wayne, not Batman, not Matches rang from under the make-up.

"Gee Bruce, giant chunk of K hits the earth, Wonder Woman, J'onn and Supes all involved. Not to mention the new kids on the block, and The Birds. And you are shocked I am here? Really, hasn't this gone far enough? I am sorry. I had no right to say the things I said."

"As touching as that all is Dick... I have work. Bruce starts for the stairs. But not before Dick gets there.

"Please. Bruce. I can't keep fighting you. Alfred is worried. I am worried. You have become a bit of a bastard lately. Bruce, you have completely become absorbed since Jason died. How long since you slept? Really slept. Not this meditation. Have you slept? Bruce Jason died a long time ago now. It's been five years."

"To you it has. Jason died because he wasn't ready. I failed him. If he had been ready we wouldn't be having this conversation. Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to get to Themyscira."

"Bruce. Just remember. There is hope. There is more to fight for than just your anger. Joker is locked away. Which is better than he deserved. But you need to start healing. You carry far too much weight on your shoulders. Even Kal, couldn't carry the load you have set for yourself."

"His name is Clark. Now get out of my way. And show yourself out." With that Bruce pushes past Dick.

 

[Wyldfire]

Huntress and The Oracle.

Helena was just about to start slapping one of the idiot awake when a brilliant column of flame erupted in the city. "Holy Hell!" she called out to no one in particular. But as she said it she was on the move to recover the big bow. She ran a silent inventory of what she had left. Two explosive bolt, three tasers, and one more screamer. Plus the normal bolts. Pistol had ten more normals. Wrist launcher was fully loaded with thirty minibolts.

"Oracle, we have an incident further into the city! Big tower of flame! Something just went away!"

Barbara could tell just from her tone that Hell wanted to investigate this one. "Hell, I have it. You may investigate but do not, I repeat, do not engage if the perp looks to be normal. Trust me, I have it on good authority if it is a normal, he is sanctioned to be in this city. He is an outside contractor."

"And if it doesn't look to be a norm?

"If it looks to be something that could be mistaken for Man-Bat, approach it with caution, it is an unknown. And don't take that to mean shooting it form a distance!"

"Aww Mom, you take all the fun out of this job. But I do understand. Observation only."

Huntress was already on the move. She hoped whoever or whatever this was would not fit within the specifics of her orders.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I threw my hand up in front of me as the building went up in a explosion. Once I had my hand down, it was gone as well as the man who had attacked me.

All that was left was a charred ruin. I looked for the arsonist, but he was gone too.

I hate it when they cheat.


Well, I still had the car here. In walked over and sat down in the passengers seat. maybe I would find something in here to tell me who this guy was.

A quick search turned up nothing. No paperwork, no cigarette butts, nothing to show that anyone had even driven the car. I got out and slammed the door in frustration.

I could hear sirens now. It was time to go anyway.

Stepping back into a pool of shadows, I shifted myself back home. I still had some hours to kill before I could get started on my day, so I figured the best way to spend them was to learn what I could about Diana and her friends.

I spent until sunrise looking through reference materials and leafing through books. I managed to learn that both Batman and Diana (or Wonder Woman as she was called) were part of an organization called the Justice League, and that Diana was an ambasador to Themyscira.

And with that I had ran out of the resources I had at home.

OK, time to go shopping today. I needed a computer. Those things were just too useful to not have one.

And I needed a car besides the vintage Rolls-Royce Phantom I that was in the garage. It was damn impressive in these days, but highly impractical.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman

Superman could be tough as Hell when he wanted to be. But on the other side of the coin, he was far more forgiving than either of the other members of the so-called "Trinity." He could be kinder than Diana, as compassionate as Diana could get, Superman had her beat.

(And Batman probably didn't have a kind bone in his body.)

Superman sped down, and as he hurtled towards The Island he seemed to shed all his fatigue and hesitation -- if they had even really been there in the first place. He cast them off like the burdens Pilgrim had cast off in that John Bunyan story Cassie's mother had read her once.

Shaking her head briefly, Cassie followed on Superman's heels.

It was true that Cassie really didn't have a frame of reference for Kryptonian beauty.

She only knew that Superman was beautiful. And that her boyfriend, Conner, Kon-El-- himself half-derived from Kryptonian DNA --he, too, was as beautiful as could be.

(Even the dog was beautiful, pale-furred and purebred.)

When compared to that level of beauty, that level of physical perfection, this new Girl still measured up. (Much to Cassie's chagrin, though she was loathe to admit this even to herself.)

That was what she had meant by "Kryptonian beautiful."

As they neared the ground, zeroing in on the top of a cliffside, Cassie realised her superhearing was still active.

Diana was there, and Phillipus, and Artemis, and that. Um. Ariadne?

And they'd gotten The Girl a decent outift, upon which Diana was presently commenting. Cassie could hear her:

"--thank you, Phillipus," Wonder Woman intoned, as the whistling wind heralded the arrival of not one but two superfast fliers. "She looks much more comfortable this way."

"Happily done," Phillipus nodded. "What kind of Chancellor would I be, really, if I let the girl catch her death of cold whilst we stand around and gab?"

Artemis touched the hilt of her sword, ever-so-briefly, as she saw Superman.

"Kryptonian," she greeted him, sombrely and respectfully. (He had never quite accepted her in her brief tenure as Wonder Woman, but she held him in higher esteem as a warrior than even The Detective. Well. Almost higher than The Detective.)

"Hello, Kal-El," Diana smiled softly up at her friend, with a bit of roguish humour to her tone, a little bit of friendly teasing. "What kept you?"

"She looks better in my colours than I do," Wonder Girl muttered to herself, as she glanced at The Girl in the armoured skirt and top, though really she was unsurprised by this. The Girl was Kryptonian beautiful, after all. "Of course she does."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Valkyrie M: "Letting The Cables Sleep"

Rose had called Helena Sandsmark, who had sounded most displeased but not entirely without understanding. Rose, putting on her very best business-like intern voice, had called Cassie's high school in D.C. to let them know she'd be missing the day, saving Professor Sandsmark the trouble.

Now Rose was watching the small TV mounted near the ceiling in the corner of The Embassy's kitchen. The volume was down, but the closed-captioning had been turned on.

GBS' Gotham affiliate was showing footage of the warehouse fire just after dawn, and there was a part of Rose, somewhere in her brain in her soul in the part of her that came out to play when she was dreaming, that respected the totality of the warehouse's obliteration. There was a physics to this sort of thing, and an art, and as a student of Fire, she could find herself giving a nod to the arsonist's mastery of his craft.

It was still a little bit horrifying and a whole lot dangerous and way way against the law. But still.

That was some good Fire.

Rose was sitting on the stovetop in the kitchen, there among the sixteen burners, and smoke from her latest Silk Cut cigarette was being drawn up into the stove's overhead exhaust fan.

Ferdinand had temporarily suspended his moratorium on smoking in the building when he'd seen just how worn out the would-be superheroine had been. And they had been talking.

Right now, Ferdinand was making breakfast for The Embassy staff. And as strange as it was to watch this massive Minotaur, this seething rippling mass of impossible strength, this "Bovine-American," preparing Veggie Eggs Benedict? Rose had seen weirder things almost bi-monthly since her fifth birthday, and far more frequently since her sixteenth. Now that she was twenty? Fugghedaboutit.

Ferdinand was practically more normal to her than some humans were.

"D'you think it's ancestral memory?" he wondered, as he whipped together the Hollandaise sauce, his voice raised slightly over the noise of the exhaust fan. "Or some kind of past life thingy?"

"Mm," Rose glanced at him. "Nawh, I dun think it's ancestral. (Though it might be easier to know that, if I knew who the other half of my ancestors were.) These are things that have happened in the past, sure, but at all corners of the globe."

"That doesn't rule out reincarnation," Ferdinand suggested, examining avocados for ripeness (little squeezes) and then slicing into the best ones.

"No, that wouldn't," Rose murmured, eyes half-lidded. "Except I've looked up some of the things I've dreamed about, and some of them have happened at exactly the same moment. Take June 29, 1914, for instance."

"For instance," Ferdinand allowed, easily, pushing avocado slices off to one side of his cutting-board with his massive chopping knife.

"Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo," Rose murmured, "and an attempted-- very nearly successful --assassination of Grigori Rasputin in Siberia. Same day in history, geographically distant, and I dreamed both incidents less than a week apart."

"Hmnh," Ferdinand mused, switching to a new knife and setting into tomatoes instead. "So not past lives, then. Couldn't be living in two places at once. Unless... parallel lives?"

Rose shook her head, and aimed a gout of smoke between her lips upwards directly into the fan's suction. "Like that movie with the French twins? Thought of that, too. But that's just the thing. It's not the events themselves that bother me the most-- though they do really kind of bother me, sicken me to me stomach --what bothers me the most is the perspective I sometimes have in these dreams."

"Perspective?" Ferdinand wondered, tending to the eggs that were poaching on the stove on the burner right next to Rose's left hand.

Rose gestured absently with her cigarette, careful not to get any ash in Ferdinand's eggs. "Floating high above Hiroshima, 6 August 1945, watching the mushroom blossom up. Underwater at Pearl Harbour, 7 December four years earlier: watching the battleships sink, and hearing the sailors knocking on the inside of the hulls as they're trapped inside by the water with no escape, doomed to slowly asphyxiate or drown. 14 October 1066, I'm flying along with that fateful, supposedly apocryphal arrow as it drills neatly into Harold Godwinson's eye. I'm there for the sinking of Atlantis in The Obsidian Age, I'm there for the death of The First Camelot in the 81st Century B.C. at the hands of The Sheeda. And I'm there out in space as fantastic natural forces, way way way billions of years ago, knock a chunk out of The Earth that will eventually take shape into The Moon."

Ferdinand stared at her for a moment, wide-eyed. And then he yanked on a pot-holder and nudged her legs out of the way.

Rose tucked those legs up neatly, permitting Ferdinand to open the gaping maw of the oven and extricate a tray of pre-sliced English muffins, made from scratch.

Ferdinand swiftly assembled the eggs and the muffins and the veggies and the condiments together onto plates, and the plates onto trays, and he seemed to be permitting this information to digest.

"I think it's a curse," Rose whispered, softly. "I think me mum pissed someone off, someone way up in a pantheon, and because she's vanished off of the metaphysical radar into Nanda Parbat, they're inflicting this on me instead."

Ferdinand turned and looked at her. His eyes were thoughtful in that big bull's head of his, and his bovine ears swiveled as if batting away flies.

"It's not a curse," he decided. "My family, look at me, we know from curses. What you got isn't a curse. (At least, not a literal one.)"

"No?" Rose wondered, extinguishing her cigarette with a tiny, crackling bolt of ice. "Then what is it?"

Ferdinand shook his head apologetically as he hefted the plate-topped trays with startling grace and strength. "Something else. Have you tried talking to The Lady Ambassador about it?"

Rose shook her head, feebly. "She's always so busy."

Ferdinand backed through the swinging double doors into the dining room, and as he went, he suggested softly, kindly: "She knows an Oracle, you know. And not just that funny green digital lady on the computer screen sometimes, an actual Oracle. Themyscira's got their own. I'm just saying: worth a shot."

Ferdinand vanished into the dining room, and Rose absently switched off the stove and the oven and the exhaust fan.

She dropped down onto the kitchen floor and looked up at the TV.

Talking heads. War in Bialya and in Qurac and in Tropidor.

She wondered how long it would be before she dreamed about these ones.

She flicked what was left of her fag into the garbage disposal, put her hands into her pockets, and followed Ferdinand. Wouldn't do to miss breakfast, after all.

 

[LuckyVic]

"Hello, Kal-El," Diana smiled softly up at her friend, with a bit of roguish humour to her tone, a little bit of friendly teasing. "What kept you?"

"She looks better in my colours than I do," Wonder Girl muttered to herself, as she glanced at The Girl in the armoured skirt and top, though really she was unsurprised by this. The Girl was Kryptonian beautiful, after all. "Of course she does."

"Well it's a beautiful night, so I was enjoying the view." he told her with a smile. He still hovered just a few inches above the ground. "May I have permission to land on your beautiful island?" he asked. He always asked permission before landing on Themyscira. He really didn't know why, was it some sort of honor he had decided to pay them for all the years of mistreatment of men, or if it was just plain simple Smallville upbringing.

While waiting for Diana to answer, he looked over to the girl that Wonder Girl had talked about. That was the first time he had seen her, but she seemed familiar to him some how.